Industrial Development Bank of Israel Ltd. v. Bier

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Edward H. Lehner, J.), entered January 24, 1991, which granted plaintiffs motion for summary judgment on the issue of liability, unanimously affirmed, with costs.

The IAS court properly granted plaintiffs summary judgment motion on the issue of defendants’ liability to plaintiff as guarantors of several loans executed between plaintiff and Flair (Israel) Ltd. in Israel. The defense of usury is unavailable to defendants since Israeli law, which permits interest rates to be linked to foreign currency exchange rates and indexed to the cost of living, is…